Unit Overview

This unit, Happily Ever After, is based on fairy tales and reflects both the interest level of first grade students and the Common Core Standards for grade one. The first week exposes the students to the elements that are often in a fairy tale. It begins with a familiar fairy tale theme, "The Three Little Pigs." Informational text and video clips are included on the final day of the week. The second week shifts to how authors can adapt fairy tales using The Three Billy Goats Gruff as the benchmark text. Students are exposed to different adaptations of this story as well as informational text and websites. The final day of this week also includes informational text on goats. The third week focuses on how cultures can impact fairy tales. Students will work on a new version of a traditional fairy tale this week and be able to compare/contrast both versions. In addition, students will participate in various activities to learn more about the cultures embedded in the new fairy tales. The final week explores the impact of 'point of view' on a fairy tale, as "the wolf" retells the stories of The Three Little Pigs and Little Red Riding Hood. Informational text on wolves and video clips are again included on the final day.

Lessons were built upon each other to reflect the added rigor of Common Core State Standards. For example: Reading in a phrased and fluent manner is emphasized throughout the lesson series. It begins with an explanation of how bold print, phrasing, and punctuation impact the reading of text. Then it shifts to reading phrases in the 'voice' of the character and concludes with opportunities for Reader's Theatre presentations. Writing with capital letters and punctuation expands to writing narratives and opinion pieces. The text selected also challenges students to utilize higher-level comprehension strategies.

Four lesson seeds are provided as optional activities that include Reader's Theatre, substitute pronouns, comparing facts learned during the exploration of informational text, and writing biographies. The lesson seeds can be utilized to enrich the unit or extend learning opportunities for students.

Many of the lessons include Power Points or resources that provide support to English Language Learners and activities can be adapted for gifted students. Universal Design Principles were incorporated into the lesson plans.